Small Pieces
by esuterutomoru
Summary: Cute, romantic snippets of random ships I sail, an outlet of fangirling. Straight or gay, swing it either way. Rating will vary. Fourth Piece: Roronoa Zoro/OC
1. Chapter 1

**First Piece:** Valentine's Chocolate

**Pairing:** Dragon-san/Sabo

Every year, Sabo put all the chocolate he got for Valentine's Day somewhere in Dragon-san's way. It was mildly irritating to maneuver around the goddamn heaps, but Dragon-san also noted that every year, Sabo was getting more and more sulky and annoyed and grumpy. Finally, in the tenth year of knowing the brat, he fixed him with an exasperated stare and nodded towards the piles and piles of chocolate. "...what are you trying to achieve, pray tell?"

Sabo at first looked suitably scolded, but Dragon-san knew the youth's temper would always win over his respect. "Datte...!" He began, petulant and cranky. He kicked the floor, crossing his arms. "What do you think?!"

Dragon-san sighed. "...are you trying to elicit some sort of reaction...? Jealousy, I suspect?"

He blushed, and how. It was one thing that cocky brat couldn't ever get under control, the blood that flooded his face when he was found out, teased, or embarrassed. "...because... well... Dragon-san isn't ever..."

"Do you think so?" Dragon-san countered the boy's muttering with that firm question. "Sabo... just because I'm not raging and throwing a tantrum like a kid..." He stepped over to him and caught his flushed face in his powerful hands. Hands that could crush a human skull. His dark eyes were blazing, furious and irate. "...doesn't mean my patience lasts forever. This is the last straw. Do that the next year and I'll punish you again." His mouth came down on Sabo's with a vengeance, stealing his breath, sucking his sweet lips, biting into the supple flesh. That Valentine's Day was loud, and fervent.

Every year, Sabo put all the chocolate he got for Valentine's Day somewhere in Dragon-san's way.

x


	2. Chapter 2

**Second Piece:** Locked Swords

**Pairing:** Dracule Mihawk/OC

When her blade caught his and their eyes met, the slow flowing current called time... came to an awed, reverent halt. History does not tell of moments like theirs, such sweet intricacies have no place among its cruel, cold facts. And yet, this one crossing of swords would become one of the most defining moment of both their lives. A careful silence enveloped them as the crowd murmured on. Her lashes fluttered in surprise, his gaze never faltered.

Her lips, painted as red sakura petals, barely moved as she spoke. "Who..." Curious, as a geisha was never allowed to be, of this young man. "...are you...?"

Her tone was a surprise, a gentle, velvet sigh, coy and exciting. He needed to step back, break the moment and calm his blood. "...Dracule Mihawk." But he could not look away from her beautiful eyes. "...and you?"

She stepped back as well, sheathing her wakizashi. Her smile was worth dying for. The way she raised her hand for him was a queen's gesture. "...Yoko."

He took her hand, the silk of her skin pure seduction. "...Ocean Child... is it?" Almost smiling, he bent down and kissed her knuckles.

x


	3. Chapter 3

**Third Piece:** New Memories

**Pairing:** Dracule Mihawk/OC

For once, the weather was clear on Kuraigana Island and Yoko had taken the opportunity to sit out among her rose bushes, getting lost in the saccharine rhymes of a poetry book. White lotuses bloomed and azure cranes danced on the purple kimono she wore. The obi, which she had tied loosely around her waist, was a deep emerald green. She had left the cleavage low and open, and her hair tumbled in shimmery, ocean waves onto her shoulder. She was barefoot, and her posture was relaxed. She was at ease with herself, she had left all the horrors she's been through where they belonged: in the past.

As Mihawk watched her, he found himself smiling. He was convinced that Honogawa Yoko, though flesh and blood as anyone else, was nothing short of magical. A lifetime ago, when they were both young fools with curious hearts, he had hardly learned her name and yet he knew that she would forever live in his memories as a mirage of perfection. She was beyond any earthly beauty he has seen... truly, she had earned her title of a goddess.

She looked up when she saw him descending the stairs, and he was halted in his steps halfway down, captured by her gaze. When she smiled at him and placed her book aside, he moved again, walking over to offer her the package he's been carrying. "This is for you."

"Oh?" There was always a coyness to her tone when she uttered that single sound. She deliberately brushed their fingers when she took the package. He knew of her schemes, and still he shivered for the touch. She laid the package on her lap and opened it. Her eyebrows lifted softly in surprise and her smile grew more pronounced. "A shamisen! How lovely of you!"

He took a seat by her on the bench, stroking his knuckles against her silken cheek, tucking some of her gorgeous locks behind her ear. "I hear geisha learn how to play it. I thought you may be happy for one."

Yoko took the instrument and plucked its strings carefully. "Indeed... it is one of the many arts I have mastered as a pirate." She met his eyes again when he took her hand and brought it to his lips. He kissed her knuckles and she sighed, melting for the caress.

"...your memories of the instrument are jaded by the hurt you've endured to learn its tune... I understand if you'd rather not play it again." He said, bringing her hand back to the shamisen, pressing it there softly. "...but if you are willing to make new memories with me, I am aching to listen to your art, my love."

She blossomed with a glowing smile, her eyes filling with azure sparks. "...your thoughtfulness makes my heart sing, Mihawk..." She whispered, placing the pluck at the strings again. She began to play, and he listened, like no one else before.

x


	4. Chapter 4

**Fourth Piece:** Will You Fight Me?

**Pairing:** Roronoa Zoro/OC

Zoro had been on his fourth mug of beer, just grinning away at the foolishness the combined crew of the Going Merry and the Exiled Princess produced when the dorky captainess scooted over to him and suddenly placed her lips at his ear. His pulse quickened, he froze mid-gulp, glanced around to see if someone had noticed what was going on, but people were far too busy singing along to some song or other.

"...Zoro-san, would you slip away with me for a moment? I have a request for you…" She was murmuring.

He swallowed, fought down a blush, tossing her a small, surprised glance. '_Isn't she way forward…?'_ But he got up anyways and abandoned his mug to follow her out. He could only HOPE no one noticed THAT.

She took him to a room that had a shoji door and he wondered if she slept in a traditional Japanese room. Then she pulled the door open.

"Ha?" He stared. It was a tatami-floor training room. '_Did she get lost?'_

She stepped inside, boots still on, screwing up all traditions. She had her hand on the hilt of one of her sabers. "Will you fight me?"

"What?" Zoro scowled at once, appalled at just the idea. "No. Why would I? You're an ally."

She was pouting, puffing up her cheeks that he now understood was something she would do when annoyed. She was... unfairly adorable. "A sparring match, don't you know? Zoro-san~, please~? I really~ want to~"

'_WHY ARE YOU SOUNDING LIKE YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING ELSE?!'_ Zoro hesitated, staring at the sparkles in her odd, colorless eyes. '_I could humor her for a while… I guess…?'_ He sighed, stepping in after her, placing his hand on one of his katana. "Alright..."

She lit up, drawing her sword, falling into a perfect stance. She waited.

Zoro watched her, uneasy. '_Does she want me to attack first? Hell no.'_

The moments trickled by. Zoro noticed that the air around her seemed to change and it did give him a pause, but come on… this was a woman that kept stumbling over herself. She had a strong spirit, he could tell that, and she was probably a good swordsm- swordsWOMAN, but he highly doubted she could pose a threat to him.

When a full minute passed and nothing happened, he sighed, his shoulders sagging, ready to tell her to forget it.

She shot out like a bullet, rushing at him, sword raised high over her head. Zoro was almost embarrassed at the foolish attack, '_She's leaving herself wide open…!'_, meaning to sidestep it when seemingly from nowhere came her second blade, flying in a swift arc. He had stepped right into its course and had barely blocked the blade by halfway drawing his sword. He felt her other blade coming down towards him, aiming for his throat. He danced away from the attack, scowling as he finished drawing his katana. '_...okay, she wanted to cut my guts and neck open, that's NOT what I was expecting when she led me off… what am I doing underestimating her?'_

When she moved at him next, he was expecting both her blades. He was deflecting the precise, swift strikes with little difficulty. '_That's more like it, but still nothing more than finger practice...' _He thought, just before she whirled and pressed her back to his chest. He was momentarily staggered by the connection, his mind boggling a little… and then her foot was hooked into his ankle and he fell onto his elbow with a grunt. '_Cheat…!'_ He leaped up, going after her with a testy swipe at her midsection. She deflected him with a laugh, hopping back.

He didn't attack again, waiting for her. She came, dancing around him, light on her feet, stinging with her swords like a scorpion. He sidestepped her attacks, brushed them aside with his katana. By the time he noticed her changing her stance, it was too late. Her swipe came slashing down with shocking force, nearly making him drop his sword. '_What the-?!'_ He strengthened his grip and blocked her next attack without difficulty. '_The steel arm, right… almost forgot...'_

He watched her twirl her swords around and come at him again, her face set in a mask of vicious determination… she was wildly gorgeous. When their swords crossed next, he needed a second one to block her strike, locking their blades. She pressed closer still, her lips curling off of her teeth, her strange eyes blown wide, feral and horrible. That gaze sent a shiver down his spine. His muscles flexed and he shoved her back, making her stumble. The wheezing, high sound that came out of her mouth made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. '_...she's an animal…!'_

She threw herself into the fray again, sending a flurry of bold, clever strikes at him. She was fighting for her pride tooth and nail, and Zoro needed to decide if he'd honor that or follow his own principles about holding back against women. When she let go of her sword mid-slash and her steel fist nearly shattered his cheekbone, his mind was made up. He lunged forward at her, heart pounding in his ears, his senses sharp. She met his attack flawlessly, countering it, pushing back.

He didn't realise when he was forced to take out his third sword, he had no time to waste on thinking. The hours became a beautiful blur of flying sparks, heavy breathing and soft grunts of exertion. Steel kept meeting steel, they clashed again and again, locked together, stepped away, then gravitated right back, led by the purest of passions. He was no longer holding back, greeting her pride readily with his own. She was aggressive, fearless and driven in a way that put some men to shame.

It was dawning when she was finally on her knees, bleeding from a cut on her upper arm, gasping for air, her sweat-matted hair sticking to her flushed face in wisps. Zoro was out of breath himself and the bruise from her punch was a great red blotch on his face, but that was it. He looked at her a moment longer, the victory giving him no joy. He was sad to see her kneeling. He sheathed his swords and turned away, unsure what to say. '_...her muscles must be on fire. I can't even imagine how much she's hurting right now. Damn it… I'm starting to regret-'_

Astounded, he turned his head back towards her. She was shaking, barely conscious, weak as a leaf and she was forcing herself to her feet. He could see her thighs tensing, he knew how she was putting her weight on her foot and pushing upwards, he understood how tolling that was for her now and he couldn't understand WHY she would be doing this to herself.

"Oi-" He stepped forward, arms hovering uselessly, unsure whether to touch her or not when she managed to pull herself straight. She met his gaze. A chill ran down his spine as she finally wobbled, and fell into his arms. He stared at her in staggered wonder. '_...her eyes clearly said… that she was ready to go on...'_

x


End file.
